From Street to School- photography show at Sydenham's Grace Hall

Anyone wanting a look at what has inspired two Kingstonians to turn their attention and fundraising efforts to the beauty and promise of Africa, specifically Kenya and its street children, should visit the Grace Centre in Sydenham for a show of photography titled “The Kenya Initiative: From Street to School”.

The purpose of the initiative is to assist young Kenyans with the funds they need to attend school and 100% of the proceeds of the show will be going towards that goal.

The Kenya Initiative was born out of a trip to Kenya by Irwin Streight and his family and on February 21, Streight and friend Raymond Vos gave a slide show and talk about the project at the Grace Centre.

In 2009 on their trip to Kenya, Streight and his family befriended two recent high school graduates, Caleb and Isaac Machira, who were working and making $1 /day with the hopes of attending university. They also met another Kenyan, John Nijane, who volunteers his time making monthly deliveries of food to local households in need and supporting a number of children living on the streets, for whom he was hoping to find housing and school funding.

Back in Kingston Streight had a conversation with his good friend Raymond Vos, owner of the Raymond Gallery, and the two dreamed up the The Kenya Initiative: From Street to School.

Vos recalled, “My heart broke when I heard Irwin’s stories and it was then that I realized that I had some resources, art pieces that I have tucked away, and that the money from their sales could be used to help meet the needs of the Kenyans that Irwin had met.”

The project was started out of that conversation and just six and a half years later, $100,000 has been raised to assist young Kenyans to attend school.

Together Vos and Streight traveled to Kenya in June 2013, meeting face to face with the people they are helping, not only to see how their fundraising dollars were being spent but to also to gather artwork made by Kenyan students to raise more funds in Kingston.

Raymond Vos said the main message he wants to get across to those who see the show is “how a small act of kindness can have enormous results and that when you invest in the lives of others, primarily through education, it will not only change one person's life but their entire family and extended family’s lives.”

The show is comprised of many gorgeous photographs that Vos took in Kenya back in 2013 and they include the Kenyan people and a wide variety of the animals they came across while on safari there. There are zebras, birds, hippos, lions, and much more, but most notable are the smiling faces of the youngsters, many of whom are now students thanks to the work of these two gentlemen and many generous donors over the years.

The show is not only an eye opener to life in Kenya but an opportunity for lovers of photography to support young Kenyans through this educational initiative. For more information visit www.galleryraymond.com

For visiting hours at the Grace hall go to www.sfcs.ca

Brian Dunford, the youth coordinator at Northern Frontenac Community Services was manning the door at the Child Care Centre in Sharbot Lake at a recent United Way chili lunch fundraiser that took place there on February 11. Dunford is someone who knows first hand the importance of giving the community an opportunity to support the United Way.“ Two of the programs we offer through Northern Frontenac Community Services are supported by the United Way so we like to support the organization who in turn help us to support youth adults in our local community”, Dunford said when I spoke to him at the Child Care Centre on the day of the event. ” Dunford who heads up NFCS' youth programming which includes leadership training, after school programs and baby sitting courses said that these youth programs and in a particular the youth leadership programs help foster leadership skills for local youth by giving them an opportunity to gain confidence, develop communication skills and work alongside others in their local communities. “These programs are hugely beneficial to youth since they offer youth a chance to lead in front of their peers which gives them the confidence and leadership skills which in turn can foster opportunities in their futures, be it jobs or volunteer opportunities”, he said.

Emily Britt, who is a family counselor at NFCS, was also in attendance at the fundraiser. She said that through the United Way funding they are able to offer a number of family counseling services to adults 18 years and older in the local community. These include counseling for anxiety, depression, trauma and grief as well as two new group programs that are currently on offer.

The first, a workshop titled “Managing Powerful Emotions”, is available through NFCS and a partnership with Providence Care . The second is a wellness group that offers participants an opportunity to learn various life skills and study many other subjects related to wellness. Anyone wanting more information about these youth and family counseling programs offered through NFCS, through the support of the United Way can call 613-279-3151 (for family counseling) or 613-279-2244 (for youth services).

As we wind down our mild winter and ramp up for spring, it is a good time to reflect on the past year and upcoming events and opportunities from Land O’ Lakes Community Services. This month will highlight our Community Support Program and Pine Meadow Nursing Home.

Board Initiatives:

Our Quality Assurance Committee has been hard at work sprucing up much of our office space by placing some new brochure/pamphlet boards in the main office waiting area and some nice artwork throughout the building (all donated), providing a positive atmosphere for our employees and visitors alike.

Community Support Programs:

Last year, our Meals-On-Wheels provided 68 different individuals with a hot meal every Thursday, prepared by volunteer cooks and delivered by volunteer drivers. In that same time frame, our Transportation program saw 12 volunteer drivers travel a total of 193,581 kilometres to get individuals to appointments, locally and outside the community, and our Congregate Dining programs (Adult Drop-In in Northbrook and Denbigh Diners in Denbigh) provided services (lunch and socialization) for 333 different individuals.

Pine Meadow Nursing Home:

As everyone is aware, we saw the completion of our expansion and were re-licensed. During the holiday season our residents had visits from students of North Addington Education Centre and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas concert with lots of music and entertainment.

We continue visit Adult Drop-In twice a month and are looking forward to our upcoming events. We will be having a Chinese New Year Bingo and regular outings that are still to be determined. Our Breakfast Club is up and running and anticipating a great Pancake Tuesday Breakfast. There are many opportunities to volunteer at Pine Meadow, and this can be a great opportunity for high school students who require 40 volunteer hours to graduate. We encourage anyone who is interested to call for more information at 613-336-9120.

Upcoming Events:

Our annual spaghetti supper in support of the Adult Protective Services program is scheduled for Saturday March 19 at the Barrie Township Hall in Cloyne from 4-7 p.m. This is a great place to bring in spring with a delicious meal and some fun company.

Once again, we will be running our income-tax program from March 1 until April 30. Volunteers complete income tax forms. If you enjoy completing these forms and are looking for a short-term volunteer commitment, this could be something that interests you. Please call the office for more information about the service or to volunteer at 613-336-8934.

We are also recruiting volunteer cooks and drivers for the Meals-On-Wheels program. Cooking for this program is a relatively small time commitment as the schedule is to cook once every 8 or 9 weeks. If interested please call Lori at 613-336-8934.  

Family & Children’s Services of Frontenac Lennox and Addington’s Tree of Hope is on track to help nearly 1,000 of the most disadvantaged people in our community (most of them kids) with toys, clothing, food and other support by Christmas. The campaign has so far helped children and families in Kingston, Napanee, Amherstview, Sharbot Lake, Northbrook, Odessa, Verona, Harrowsmith and Cloyne.

What has been requested for our families:

20% of all requests have been clothing;

10% desperately need baby cribs, car seats, strollers, children's beds and bedding; and 5% need food. With three weeks to go, here are the top priorities.

Money: We have raised only about a quarter of what we need. Money is urgently needed to buy the things our families need.

Big Ticket Items: We are desperately short of new cribs, car seats and children's beds.

Toys: We need more toys, but we're confident that we will meet our needs by Christmas. Call (613) 545-3227

Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

or go to HelpTreeofHope.ca  

On November 21, several friends got together at the Sydenham Legion for a family and friends event, calling it “Keeping it Local”. Proceeds from the event, totalling $630 were presented to the SFCSC Food Bank from the event organizers, Nicki Mundell and Ashley Reynolds. A total of seven families were instrumental in organizing the event and wanting to support local agencies helping local residents. Many thanks to Nicki Mundell & Andrew Watson, Ashley & Kyle Reynolds, Shannon & Chris Bowes, Josh & Nicole Revell, Farrah and Adam Heska, Felicia & Matt Dowker and Lisa & Jordan Livermore.

Southern Frontenac Community Services held an open house on December 1, to kick off a month-long fund raising campaign for its food bank, which serves South Frontenac and rural Kingston (south to the 401). Their goal for December is $25,000.  

Over 25 volunteers of all ages transformed the Southern Frontenac Community Services’ (SFCS) Grace Centre in Sydenham into one gigantic restaurant/cafeteria in preparation for the annual Vision Soup fundraiser that took place there on November 28. Organizers were expecting over 200 diners to arrive, who for $20 per person could choose from an assortment of hundreds of hand made ceramic bowls, all generously donated to the event by members of the Kingston Potters Guild. The guests then filled the empty bowls with home-made soup, choosing from close to 20 different types, all donated by businesses from the local and surrounding communities. The soups included a leek and bacon from Pan Chancho in Kingston; cauliflower curry from Martha's; and an exotic Thai soup from Sydenham Pet and Farm Supply; plus many, many more. Diners also enjoyed buns and butter, hot and cold beverages and a wide assortment of home-made sweet treats.

Leslie Reade of Sydenham, who heads up the event along with Josey Steel, said the fundraiser helps to support many people in need in the local area. The proceeds go to support SFCS, as well as to the local Christmas Food Basket Campaign, which is run by the Loughborough Christmas and Emergency Relief Committee. The Vision Soup event has been happening for the last 10 years in Sydenham and Reade said that for her and Steel, who both own their own businesses in the area, organizing the fundraiser is “our way of giving back to community.” Reade co-owns the Sydenham Veterinary Clinic and Steel owns the Chiropractic Life Centre. Many of the guests who attended the event also made cash and food donations to the SFCS food bank.

The CP Holiday Train is due to arrive in Belleville on November 30! Bring the family to this annual Christmas event with a donation of food or cash to support the Land O’Lakes Food Bank.

The train will arrive at Mile 91 Belleville Sub, west of storage facility, on Keegan Way adjacent to CP Tracks at 10am, and Devin Cuddy and Kelly Prescott will present a Christmas concert from 10:15 - 10:45 a.m.

The Canadian Pacific’s annual Holiday Train program is a rolling fundraising event that travels across Canada and the United States raising money, food, and awareness for food banks and hunger issues, hosting free holiday concerts along the way. Since 1999 the program has raised over C$10.6 million and 3.6 million pounds of food. Each Holiday Train is about 1000 feet in length with 14 rail cars decorated with hundreds of thousands of technology-leading LED lights and a modified box car that has been turned into a traveling stage for performers.

Land O’Lakes Food Bank is a member of the Quinte Regional Food Share Shelter (QRFSS), which is a collective of nine area food banks. The CP Holiday Train is one of the main fundraisers for the QRFSS and each member food bank gets a portion of the funds raised based on its use. Your support of the CP Holiday Train is support for the Land O’Lakes Food Bank operating out of Cloyne.

In 2001 the Quinte Region Food Share Shelter (QRFSS) was formed; it is a registered charity.

Food Bank Canada introduced this initiative to ensure that rural food banks could access food at a central warehouse and reduce shipping cost. The QRFSS is a collective of 9 area food banks that address the needs of many families and individuals in need throughout the Tri-County Region. This region includes food banks, meal programs and non-profit agencies in the following counties: Hastings, Prince Edward and Northumberland. The QRFSS is also a member of the Canadian & Ontario Association of Food Banks. Food banks are located in Brighton, Belleville, Cloyne, Loyalist College, Madoc, Mamora, Picton, Stirling and Wellington.

The QRFSS member food banks meet quarterly to discuss daily operations, fundraising and for fellowship. The largest food bank in this collective is Gleaners Food Bank of Belleville. Gleaners set up the Tri-County Food Network Warehouse to ensure donated food could be delivered to this region. This warehouse serves the QRFSS members, community meal program, school snack programs, and 150 non-profit agencies. (gleanersfoodbank.ca)

Six years ago there was no food bank serving South Frontenac, but there were a number of programs available to residents in different communities. Different churches gave out food, the Loughborough Christmas and Emergency Relief Committee and the Community Caring Centre in Hartington also helped people access food.

“We saw that there was a lot of effort but a lack of co-ordination, so we started up a service at that time,” said David Townsend, executive director of Southern Frontenac Community Services (SFCS).

The SFCS Food Bank was set up in 2011 and has been up and running ever since, working closely with the churches and the other groups that were already active in the township.

The food bank co-ordinator, Vickie England, has a half-time position with the agency. She works with almost 25 volunteers, who sort the non-perishable items; shop for meat, vegetables, eggs and milk; gather fresh vegetables from the SFCS community garden program in season; and prepare baskets for pick up.

In Sydenham, pick up is at the Rural Visions Centre on George Street on Tuesday & Wednesday afternoons and Friday mornings, and in Verona it is on the second and 4th Tuesday of the month.

Food bank use increased steadily over the first two years that the food bank was open and has remained steady since 2013.

“It is a concern to us that we serve so many children now,” said Vickie England. “We serve a lot of families, including some pretty large blended families.”

The statistics that she keeps bear out her impression. For example, last month 59 baskets were given out, serving 171 people. Of those, 71 (41.5%) were children, by far the largest cohort. Children receive, in addition to their share of the family-sized baskets, food for school and weekend snacks, including yogurt and cheese, extra fresh vegetables and fruit.

In terms of geography, last month 38% of those who received food came from Verona; 31% from Sydenham; 9% from Harrowsmith; and there were recipients from Perth Road, Hartington, Inverary, Battersea and Godfrey as well.

So far this year, 539 food baskets have been handed out, which is on track to match or exceed the total of 718 from last year. While use has been steady in the range of 50-55 baskets per month all year long, there have been unusual months, such as June (70) and August (44).

“We had no way of predicting that June would be that busy and August that quiet,” said England.

Eligibility for food baskets is determined by a means test. Baskets are stocked with a 5-7 day supply and can only be accessed once a month.

“We have 159 families on our eligibility list,” said David Townsend. “Those are people who have accessed the food bank within the last six months.”

The food bank is an un-funded program of SFCS, which means it only survives courtesy of food, and, most importantly, financial donations.

“We had $16,000 in the food bank account bank at the beginning of our fiscal year on April 1,” said Vickie England. “By the end of September, we had $9,000.”

The Christmas season is crucial to the food bank because it is the prime fundraising season and the SFCS Food Bank has a number of events scheduled in the coming weeks.

The first is the annual Vision Soup event on Saturday, November 28, 11:30am - 1:30pm at the Grace Centre, on Stagecoach Road in Sydenham. For a $20 ticket plus a food donation, people can purchase a pottery bowl filled with soup from local restaurants. Tickets are available in advance at the Rural Visions Centre, Sydenham Chiropractic, Trousdale’s General Store, and Sydenham Veterinary Services.

Also, at the Sydenham Santa Claus parade on the same day, members of the Sydenham High School football team will be holding a food drive for the food bank.

Next Tuesday, December 1, the South Frontenac Food Bank is holding an Open House as part of the National “Giving Tuesday” event (a response to the Black Friday – Cyber Monday craze). From 2-5 pm, the food bank will be open to the public, providing an opportunity to see how the food service works and how important it is to the local community.

Giving Tuesday will also mark the start of a major fundraising drive by the South Frontenac Food Bank. Donations of a basket for a single person ($40), a family of two ($60) and a family of four ($100) are being sought as part of the campaign. The goal is to receive donations of 150 baskets by the end of December through the campaign.

“We need to average about $5,000 a month in donations to keep the food bank afloat,” said David Townsend. “From June to September we raise about $300 a month, so you can see how important this season is to us.”

While we all understand that death is inevitable, we mostly keep that aspect of life at a distance until we are confronted with it. But along with death comes bereavement and the need for community support for those dying and their families. For palliative care providers, death and dying are a daily matter, requiring coordination, planning, and a willingness to engage fully in the difficult process that death is.

South Frontenac Community Services, based in Sydenham, includes hospice and palliative care under its purview and, as coordinator Corry Schutt explains, their services reach South, Central and North Frontenac, serving clients 18 years of age and up.

"The goal of palliative care is to care holistically for the person rather than trying to cure disease. It's emotional, social and psychological support for clients and their families."

Funded by the province through the local LHIN (Local Health Integration Network), a large part of SFCS's palliative care work is volunteer-driven non-medical support to caregivers, who are often burdened with caring for friends or family members at end-of-life, to a point where, without the support of outside help, they have no choice but to place that person in hospital or long-term care.

This is a particular challenge in parts of Frontenac county, particularly further north, where travel times and long distances from medical centers, most notably Kingston (the major care center for the region) pose a particular stress.

"Life has to go on for those caregivers," says Schutt.

While isolation and transportation challenges are significant, rural areas like ours have an asset in community connectedness and a willingness among friends and neighbours to help when they are needed. Still, with a large proportion of an already small population working full-time and managing family and social obligations, there is a relatively small number of people able to take on the time commitment of volunteer work.

Schutt also notes that close bonds form between volunteers, clients, and families, and being so intimately involved in the trajectory of death and the bereavement process can take an emotional toll on those offering their time and skills.

Volunteers are required to take a 30-hour course ahead of beginning their service, which trains them in end-of-life care from a volunteer perspective. Furthermore, they have access to bereavement support, just as families do.

The bereavement aspect of palliative care is given particular attention as the holidays approach through an evening of remembrance called "Light in the Darkness," hosted by SFCS. This year the occasion will be held November 29 at the Grace Centre, starting at 7 pm, and will include music, readings, and refreshments.

"Christmas and holidays are really hard for people who have lost a loved one. This is a safe place to recognize that grief," says Schutt.

The next training for volunteers will take place in the spring, but Schutt invites anyone interested in becoming involved to get in touch at any time. As for clients, a person does not require a medical referral to receive services. Friends, family members, health professionals or even clients themselves can make a referral by contacting Corry, who can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 613-376-6477 ext 308.

Saturday, December 12 in the villages of Sydenham and Verona

Christmas is just around the corner. This holiday, you can make a difference and help make this time of year special for all! On Sat. December 12, 10 am to 3 pm, OPP Auxiliary Constable Jennifer Robertson, along with fellow officers and SFCSC volunteers, will be parking OPP cruisers at Trousdale’s Foodland in Sydenham and at Reid’s Foodland in Verona.

Help fill the cruisers with non-perishable food items! The food collected will support the food bank operated by Southern Frontenac Community Services Corporation.

This year, Southern Frontenac Community Services (SFCSC), a charitable non-profit organization, celebrates its 26th Anniversary. SFCSC is the sole provider of health support services and social support programs for seniors in South Frontenac and rural Kingston, north of the 401. The agency also provides financial and food security support for low-income families. SFCSC’s food bank operates with the assistance of over 20 local volunteers, receives no government funding and is entirely supported by donations from local churches, schools, organizations, and the general public, and through events such as Stuff the Cruiser!

The food bank is currently being accessed by an average of 55 households a month. The items that are in high demand are peanut butter, Kraft dinner, canned tuna, pasta sauce, canned tomatoes, canned vegetables, cereal, school snacks, crackers, rice, and canned soup, just to name a few. The food bank assisted over 700 families in 2014; this includes 1,248 adults and 673 children. Children are the most vulnerable people we feed, representing over 41% of the people we serve.

The SFCSC Food Bank is able to provide five to seven days’ worth of non-perishable and perishable staples to 100 adults and 60 children on average per month. Upon eligibility approval, the SFCSC Food Bank may be accessed once a month. Pick-up dates are on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Contact: Jennifer Linton 613-376-6883, SFCSC at 613-376-6477 or Jennifer Robertson at 613-384-1774